Letters to the Editor

GRANNIES SAY: HUH?

GRANNIES SAY: HUH?

THE RAGING GRANNIES cartoon (DeCinzo, Aug. 8) makes no sense to me. Most of us are members of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and we all agreed to take a special day of nonviolence training in order to participate in this act of civil disobedience. None of us were violent in word or action. The cartoonist seems to have gone off on some tangent for his own entertainment.

Judy Geer, Santa Cruz

GONZO MUST GO

EVERY EFFORT must be made to impeach Alberto Gonzales now. While the lawlessness of the entire Bush administration is dismaying, to say the least, Gonzales is particularly important because he is the highest-ranking officer of the Justice Department. He is the one we look to to safeguard our rights as citizens under the Constitution. Obviously, he does the opposite—and we need to end this now. The media needs to outline the frightening state of reduced liberties and protections that have happened under Gonzales' rule.

Shirley Johnson, Santa Clara

Consider it done.—Editor

NO MORE MR. NICE GUY

Official estimates report 3,702 American deaths in Iraq since March 19, 2003. The number of Iraqi citizens killed is 69,784 (which is on the low end of the scale). Seems to me that enough people have died, and for what? It is not because of WMDs, not the feeble attempt to link Al Queda to Iraq, thus tying Iraq to 9/11. Lies! Lies on top of lies. Bush, Cheney and Gonzales should be held responsible for their crimes against humanity and total disregard for the Constitution. Impeachment must be back on the table. The people demand no less than prosecution for war crimes.

On Sept. 22–29, the Troops Out Now coalition is calling all citizens to come to Washington, D.C., to confront Congress and the Bush regime. An encampment will take place directly in front of the Capitol and will culminate with a massive march on the 29th. Stop business as usual and make it very clear that no additional funding for this Iraq debacle is acceptable. We demand an immediate withdrawal of all troops. Bring them home now!

Barry Latham-Ponneck, Sebastopol

MOORE IS MISINFORMED

SO, MICHAEL MOORE goes to Cuba but fails to mention that the best care is reserved for rich foreign tourists and Communist Party bosses while regular folk go to run-down facilities, often receive out-of-date drugs and often have to bring their own food, sheets and soap to the hospital. Cuban doctors who have been sent to Venezuela don't want to go back to Cuba, where they make about $15 a month. Instead, they want to go to America but must escape from Venezuela to Columbia in order to do so. Meanwhile, Fidel Castro flew in a specialist from Spain for his care. Mr. Moore recently railed against the Martin Luther King Harbor Hospital in a news conference but failed to mention it is a "government-run" county facility.

I watched Tony Blair on C-SPAN for 10 years try to answer questions why various problems with the National Health Care system continued on and on forever. One hears Canada's system is supposedly better than America's and that a "single payer" government system is the answer.I just ask if people have really seen "a sense of urgency" and "high efficiency" in very many government-run operations. Happy with post office lines, the current passport fiasco, the immigration failures, your California highways? Do you think the best doctors and nurses are going to want to work for the government?

In the limited space of a letter, it is hard to discuss a complex subject like health care. I suggest the following books for those who want to get the true facts about Canada's health care system, including the basic problem of "getting things done" (Gratzer) plus the "lack of high-tech equipment compared to not only the U.S. but all advanced countries" (Pipes) and that a Canadian earning $ 35,000 (U.S. equivalent) pays $7,500 in health care taxes (Gratzer). These are only a few of the topics covered in the following market-oriented books, which include mention of the often-cited "46 million uninsured": The Cure by Canadian Dr. David Gratzer, 2006; Code Blue by Dr. Gratzer on Canadian health system, 1999; Miracle Cure by Sally C. Pipes, 2004; Who Killed Health Care? by Regina Herzlinger, Harvard Business School, 2007.